ITP 310 Study Guide
10/02/13
Defining Requirements:
After analyzing your data and findings from research, you have a description of the world as it is today.
Now—think about the future: what your product/service needs to do to succeed. Requirements!
Problem with Requirements
Can’t be gathered
Not features, because they specify needs, not solutions.
Not specifications
Generating Effective Requirements
Sources of requirements: Customer personas, brainstorming, Stakeholders, External influences
Types of Requirements
⋅ Data Needs o Bits of information for the user (Goodwin p128-30) o Nouns in your persona’s mental model o Example: Email Programs would need: messages (subject, recipient, sender, time and date, content), contacts, message folders (inbox, outbox, drafts, etc.)
⋅ Functional needs o Actions and Verbs you would need o What users should be able to do with data objects o Example: Email Programs would need to: send emails, delete them, update contacts
⋅ Product or service qualities o Brand requirements, durability?
⋅ Constraints o Deadline for product to shop o Cost of development o Government regulations
**See slide on Example Requirements Matrix for a scenario on data, functional needs, etc.
Requirements Definition Process
⋅ Figure out what we need, what we need to do
⋅ Create scenarios: sketch out the situation of the persona using the product.
⋅ See slide!
Brainstorming
⋅ Come up with possible requirement ideas, no discussion as to the merits of ideas. Include all!
⋅ Analysis and feasibility of ideas comes later.
Scenarios
⋅ Plausible description of the future based on a coherent set of assumptions
⋅ “Personas with scenarios are like characters without plot” ?
⋅ Context scenarios: used early in requirements definition. They are high level and optimistic, focusing on ideal system behavior in situations that will happen.
⋅ What is it like for them to use our product as we envisioned it?
⋅ Scenarios describe the future, not
Defining Requirements:
After analyzing your data and findings from research, you have a description of the world as it is today.
Now—think about the future: what your product/service needs to do to succeed. Requirements!
Problem with Requirements
Can’t be gathered
Not features, because they specify needs, not solutions.
Not specifications
Generating Effective Requirements
Sources of requirements: Customer personas, brainstorming, Stakeholders, External influences
Types of Requirements
⋅ Data Needs o Bits of information for the user (Goodwin p128-30) o Nouns in your persona’s mental model o Example: Email Programs would need: messages (subject, recipient, sender, time and date, content), contacts, message folders (inbox, outbox, drafts, etc.)
⋅ Functional needs o Actions and Verbs you would need o What users should be able to do with data objects o Example: Email Programs would need to: send emails, delete them, update contacts
⋅ Product or service qualities o Brand requirements, durability?
⋅ Constraints o Deadline for product to shop o Cost of development o Government regulations
**See slide on Example Requirements Matrix for a scenario on data, functional needs, etc.
Requirements Definition Process
⋅ Figure out what we need, what we need to do
⋅ Create scenarios: sketch out the situation of the persona using the product.
⋅ See slide!
Brainstorming
⋅ Come up with possible requirement ideas, no discussion as to the merits of ideas. Include all!
⋅ Analysis and feasibility of ideas comes later.
Scenarios
⋅ Plausible description of the future based on a coherent set of assumptions
⋅ “Personas with scenarios are like characters without plot” ?
⋅ Context scenarios: used early in requirements definition. They are high level and optimistic, focusing on ideal system behavior in situations that will happen.
⋅ What is it like for them to use our product as we envisioned it?
⋅ Scenarios describe the future, not